Sirkeci Konak (The Charming Hotels of the World) (Istanbul, Turkey)

Sirkeci Konak is a new and charming traditional Ottoman-style hotel right on the doorstep of two thousand years of history in Istanbul's old city-centre. The Hotel is located next to the garden of Topkapi Palace. Its creation is the result of an innovative focus based on the combination between the old 18th Century Ottoman Mansion style and the modern 21st Century comfort. Konak is a large house used as official residence during the old Ottoman Empire. Sirkeci Konak provides its guests with a Fitness Centre, Sauna, Swimming Pool, Turkish Bath, Jacuzzi and a Hammam that can accomodate 25 people. All included in the room rate. Several massage types are available with a fee. Special events take place in the Hotel, like cooking lessons. A big library is available for our guests, with a wide choice of books on Istanbul and Turkey, mostly in english. All the Hotel's facilities are free of charge. In addition to all the facilities and the fantastic location, the most substantial Hotel's value is the model created for the guest relations. This model is based on the traditional turkish hospitality, which is almost forgotten in the big cities, but still alive in Anatolia. According to this model guest is everithing. Guests are welcomed at Sirkeci Konak with a special turkish apple tea and are provided with all the most relevant information about the City and the Hotel. They also find turkish delights in their room as welcome present. Our guests have the possibility to talk with us or the other guests during our five o'clock tea. It is free of charge and an opporunity to enjoy the simit, a traditional turkish pastry. It should be easy now to understand why Sirkeci Konak reached a great success in very short time. In a couple of months after the opening, Sirkeci Konak reached the first row on many travelforums on the web: it is at the top on the most important one, Tripadvisor. Sirkeci Konak is the latest product of the group Sirkecigrouphotels and restaurants. The owner family of the group is in the Sirkeci area for more than fourty years. After having worked in a different sector, they opened their first hotel in the Sirkeci district in 1988 and were determined to change the future of Sirkeci. They had not just built hotels and restaurants, they supported and managed the development and improvement of the area by bringing up with new ideas, sharing them with legal authorities , attracting new investors into the area and working with various NGOs not just for the area but also for the tourism of the old city and Istanbul. They always had respect for history and cultural heritage.